Yeah after that episode I see it more now. Takatora is so being played by everyone except for Kouta pretty much.

I definitely see Kaito either failing and learning a new way about power like Mai was telling him, or gaining ultimate power and using it to change the world or be the final villain by transforming into an ultimate Invess.

Though the fate of Zack worries me, and I am intrigued to see what happens to Bravo and Gridon soon. I want to know more about Yoko too.

I might be slow but , did anyone else notice how there are 3 basic colors for the elementary Invess ? Red , Green and blue.

In the opening scene we had Kaito controlling the red colored invess , Michy/Takatora controlling the green invess and Kouta controlling the blue ones.
This always bugged me because it means opening many , many lockseeds at once which is a bit unpractical. Coincidentally we've seen 2 Overlords one is Red(Demushu) and the other is Green(Redue). So it's quite possible that defeating/allying with an overlord grants control over a type of invess.

About Mai , i think she's part of the invasion somehow. We know that Helheim sent a seed for that tree that Yggdrasil is using which strangely stayed dormant and didn't try to spread like other Helheim plantation , my super wacky theory is this :

Helheim marks the next world to invade by sending a seed for a tree and a Mai clone , after some years the invasion starts , the population gets overwritten except for a select few who are chosen by the blonde Mai to become Overlords. Rinse and repeat.

Given the recent reveal of the Redyue Overlord, and his resemblance to Zangetsu/Ryugen, I'm wondering if the Overlord types are somehow tied to the Drivers... Although seeing as Ryoma created them, and stated that he programmed them to HIS preferences... I'm wondering if HE is actually an agent of Helheim!

At first i thought Redyue is actually a Ryugen from a past world or something. But it's also possible that Ryouma is an agent of Helheim and that might be how he could have finished his research.
It's hard to guess with this show because how it keeps flipping things in the air, heck , just this episode we've seen that you can make lockseeds out of ordinary fruit . so what is the difference between earth fruit and helheim fruit ? one can't co-exist with other fruits and the other can ?

Nah man, Sagara had some weird fruit themed polyhedron. Fruit of the Helheim forest pre-Inves, perhaps?

Rumors I found while browsing around sites. Take them worth a grain of salt until we see some hints that they're true like usual I guess:

Some rumors alleged to be from the new issue of Televikun:

In a fight with Demushu, Kaito gets his Sengoku Driver destroyed. Ryoma gives him a new one which is a variant that is able to use Energy Lockseed. By taking Kota's Lemon Energy Lockseed, he uses it to become Baron Lemon Energy Arms.

Gaim uses Jimber Peach Arms which specializes in power.

Gaim also uses Budou Arms against Ryugen Kiwi Arms for training.

Next issue: Ryugen's new form and a new Rider.

This I find interesting due to the fact that Baron and Duke share a theme; Baron is a knight, while Duke looks like nobility (and has more than a passing resemblance to the King of Diamonds). Both of their names even reference nobility; I won't be surprised in the slightest if an energized Baron looks at all like Duke.

It also presents an interesting situation in which there are mirrors on both sides; Ryoma for Kaito and Takatora for Kota, with Micchy playing both sides of the Yggdrasil conflict.

Well we already got to see a silhoette of Baron lemon Energy Arms so that part could be true.

Not to mention Duke's lockseed theme which we haven't heard since we've never seen Ryoma transform on screen. It's 'Fight! Fight! Fight for Power!' which with what we know about Ryoma now seems to fit him, but it also matches Kaito's personality perfectly.

I'm really looking at the "flash-forward" at the start of the series with all the new information and theories, and I find myself wondering...

If that "future" was actually in the past of what we now know as Helheim, and if Ryoma was/is connected to that world's Baron?

Whoa wait what?

I've only ever seen the one Overlord invess that showed up in the show.

There was a preview pic of another one in a magazine scan: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l899uiS0Id...0/g4942245.jpg

Of course there is the bird theme that they talked about a while back when they were coming up with designs for Gaim. You can easily see it on that Overlord.

Maybe the resemblance isn't a coincidence. Since we know Overlords are evolved creatures from the dimension Helehim now inhabits, it's reasonable to say that Ryugen could possibly become that thing. After all it looks like Ryoma's goals involve seizing the power of the Invess. Like I said a long time ago after he revealed those organic belt designs, he wants to harness that power.

And Gaim's final form resembling the first Overlord (in silhouette at least) just took on a new meaning...

So I'm guessing those doodles of other drivers wasn't as throwaway as others thought.

The previous world's Gaim?

I'm standing by my previous theory for now regarding Ryoma.

That was my thought, yes.

It falls right in line with Urouchi's MO...

I said that as soon as Redyue was shown >_<

I know it won't happen, but I really want Gaim to do a day in the life of a kurokage trooper episode.

I want to know what motivates these guys outside of getting paid.

If they're anything like Zectroopers, they must get piles of cash in hazard pay. Because that's the only way you could convince those fools to keep those jobs :lol

Oh come on. You know that if someone offered you a job in which you got a magic belt that summoned battle armor and you got to fight monsters with a pike, you'd be all over that like a hornet at a cookout.

But the other part of the job is you get your ass beat by some kids wearin fruit. Still want it? :lol

Occupational hazard.

Makes me wonder if Yggdrasail offers a good health plan.

...They have dental :lol

That's good because Lisa Needs braces:lol

But just think, as soon as they're hired and they come for training they see this in the room :lol :
http://smoothjazzy.files.wordpress.c...dontforget.jpg

Is it just me or has Gaim gone from feeling like Ryuki to feeling like Faiz?

Dental's the least of their worries. Can you imagine their hospital bills, especially after Kachidoki Arms wiped the roof with the majority of them?

There has to be more for them than just money.

Doctor: This is strange. You seem to have a spear lodged in your chest. How did...this happen.
KT: Long story. Some kid in fruity armor shot me, like, ten times! Just because I was trying to murder him with aforementioned spear.
Phone: 911, what's your emergency?

Either very efficient brainwashing, cloning, a combination of the two, or they recruit inner-city youths and tell them "Hey, we have these magic belts that turn you into armored warriors. Also, you get flamethrowers and hoverbikes."

No, it's still good. :p

I'm feeling Blade.

:lol

It's gone from feeling like Ryuki, to feeling like an even better Ryuki. DJ Sagara is the new Shiro Kanzaki.

Speculation: Kiwami arms is sort of a "Jinba" of Kachidoki and all of the other fruits much like how Kachidoki is an upgraded Orange arms. The salad lockseed even uses the Sengoku Driver in a similar way to the energy lockseeds to get a mixed form.

And Mai is Yui?

Hmmm perhaps. That'd be the only way Mai could actually be useful to advance the plot. She needs to find a brother, die, and draw mirror monsters with him!

So having finally seen Episode 23, I've got a few thoughts that I'm going to post later.

I can't remember a show that actually made me rewatch any one episode over and over and actually take notes. In fact I never take notes. At all.

I love this show.